The setup
Stand facing your audience. They must be in front of you, not beside you. Hold a pencil horizontally in your left fist, with the back of your left hand toward the audience.
- Grip the wrist. Bring your right hand to your left wrist and wrap your right fingers and thumb around it, as if steadying the hand for something difficult.
- Extend the secret finger. As you adjust the grip, straighten your right index finger upward across your left palm, on your side of the hand. Press the pencil lightly against the left palm with it. The audience sees only the back of the left hand and your right hand around the wrist.
- Open slowly. Straighten the left fingers one at a time and spread them wide. The pencil appears to cling to your open palm.
- Close and release. Curl the left fingers back around the pencil, then bring the right index finger back to the wrist. Open the left hand palm-up and hand the pencil out for inspection.
The secret in plain clothes: Your right index finger is pinning the pencil to your palm. The grip on the wrist gives the hand a reason to be there and hides the missing finger.
The angle rule
This one lives and dies on angles. Anyone standing to your side will see the finger. Use it for one audience in front of you, a small group at the end of a table, or a video call where the camera sees only the back of your hand.
The family-friendly double ending
For kids, do the trick, then turn around and “show how it works,” revealing the finger. The laugh is the second trick. Then do it again with a strip of tape on your palm, if you want to confuse the people who just learned the secret.
Next: The pencil vanish